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  1. The U.S. economy grew at an even stronger pace then previously indicated in the third quarter, the product of better-than-expected business investment and stronger government spending, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced during the three-month period, accelerated at a 5.2% annualized pace, the department’s second estimate showed. The acceleration topped the initial 4.9% reading and was better than the 5% forecast from economists polled by Dow Jones. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/29/us-gdp-grew-at-a-5point2percent-rate-in-the-third-quarter-even-stronger-than-first-indicated.html
  2. Actually, the body of a hostage was found. She had been shot. I'm on my mobile now so I won't provide a link until later. But it was prominently featured in the news.
  3. Your comments take no account of toxicity. For example In a 2012 Science of the Total Environment study, researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health found that air pollution caused by hydraulic fracturing or fracking may contribute to acute and chronic health problems for those living near natural gas drilling sites. The report, based on three years of monitoring, found a number of potentially toxic and carcinogenic petroleum hydrocarbons in the air near oil/gas wells, including benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene. Benzene has been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as https://www.gem.wiki/Colorado_and_fracking#:~:text=Air pollution,-In a 2012&text=The report%2C based on three,Agency as a known carcinogen.a known carcinogen. https://www.gem.wiki/Colorado_and_fracking#:~:text=Air pollution,-In a 2012&text=The report%2C based on three,Agency as a known carcinogen. https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/HEALTHYENVIRONMENTS/DRINKINGWATER/MONITORING/Documents/health/benzene.pdf When does benzene in drinking water become a health concern? Benzene is measured in parts per billion (ppb). The federal government has established the safe drinking water standard (also called maximum contaminant level) for benzene as 5 ppb. https://www.gem.wiki/Colorado_and_fracking#:~:text=Air pollution,-In a 2012&text=The report%2C based on three,Agency as a known carcinogen. What are exposure limits for PFAS in drinking water? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Health Advisory recommends that the concentration of PFOA and PFOS, or a combination of both PFOA and PFOS, in drinking water should not be higher than 70 parts per trillion. https://health.ri.gov/news/temp/201710PFASQuestionsAndAnswers.pdf
  4. How many of my comments on this topic were initiated by me and how many were replies to someone else?
  5. Actually, it's very common for executives to have their bonuses tied to the stock's performance. Until the Reagan administration, buying back shares to influence the price of stocks was illegal. And justly so. Clearly, it's stock price manipulation.
  6. Right. It's a really good quote because as history tell us, as long as your side can face death without blinking, it's sure to win.
  7. The original comment was the kind of balderdash that infects public discourse during wars.
  8. I actually haven't participated much in this thread at all because of all the name calling going on in which you were a participant. Once the moderators did a fairly thorough house cleaning I rejoined the fray.
  9. Again with the deflecting insults. What you are saying now is absolutely different from what you originally claimed and no amount of dismissive comments can change it. "Maybe so, but I think there is some value (or added value) to what one fights for..." is not the same thing at all as, Maybe so but I think there is some added value in believing in what one fights for which would apply equally well to Hamas fighters.
  10. I should add that there's no good evidence that the inflation reduction act added to inflation. The developed world generally experienced staggering inflation regardless of their governments' level of spending. What we do know is that the US recovery has been contrary to what was being predicted a year ago.
  11. False. I have harshly criticized certain members supporting Hamas. I have called out a few on their antisemitism, another on some nonsense about Israel not disclosing it's hostage policy and lots of others.. I don't intervene much, especially when the name-calling begins, but then neither do you to those who offer some pretty horrifying, and what's worse, false statements and assertions in support of Israel.
  12. That's just plain B.S. Here is what you wrote: "Maybe so, but I think there is some value (or added value) to what one fights for..." That's not about feeling, that's about a cause. What is that cause?
  13. I am asking for evidence of your moral qualms. Not evidence of your morals. That you won't even mention anything in passing re anything immoral committed by one party to this conflict, is a pretty clear indication that you've got nothing.
  14. Well, I think a better example would be all the infrastructure aimed at relieving America's dependence that is currently being created thanks to the inflation reduction act. And lots of other stuff. It's dubious that the Act in the form it was passed reduced inflation considering that the tax side of the bill was largely cut back due to the stance of a couple of Democrats and all the Republicans. And both Obama and Biden did get to propose and sign into law tax increases on the wealthy.
  15. In that case, maybe you can point to where you express some moral qualms about what Israel is doing?
  16. So that's twice you apparently you see in it no relevance to your one-sideism?
  17. Can you share with us exactly what is the added value in the war is fighting now? In WW2 it was about liberating Europeans from Nazism. The Korean War was and the UKraine war is about resisting invasion from foes ruled by despots. Even in other wars where the justifications were either based on delusion or deception or some mixture of both, at least there was some sort of appeal to idealism. What is adding value to Israel's campaign against Hamas? Is Israel promising to help rebuild Gaza? To pursue policies different from those it has pursued in the past? As far as I can tell, it's about eliminating Hamas. It can be argued that Israel's plan to exterminate Hamas may be necessary, and that taking vengeance is only incidental (unconvincing), but what higher principle is moving Israelis to look " into death’s eyes without blinking." As for conduct in war. Well, you're setting a very low bar in comparing Israel to Hamas.. Who knows what Israeli troops are up to considering that reporters are mostly banned? A few reports, like the beating of that Gazan poet get some play, but it's mostly darkness.
  18. Nonsense. In Colorado the chemicals being used have to be disclosed. And PFAs are banned. According to your way of magical thinking, absolutely secrecy can turn any chemical into water and therefore no need for disclosure.
  19. Oil and gas producers in Pennsylvania used some 160 million pounds of chemicals that they are not required by law to publicly identify in more than 5,000 gas wells between 2012 and 2022, according to research published on Tuesday. The chemicals may have included per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a toxic and pervasive class of chemicals, according to the report from Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), an activist group that last week co-published a new compilation of studies on the harms of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24102023/pennsylvanias-gas-industry-used-160-million-pounds-of-secret-chemicals-possible-pfas/?utm
  20. And of course, as you well know, my comment was directed against the degradation of thought that accompanies war, as exemplified in this sentiment: "Looking into death’s eyes without blinking. Israel will win." If Israel wins it will be because it has a superb military machine, not because of some hero-worshiping assertion about their attitude towards death.
  21. They are willing to enrage an overwhelmingly powerful opponent. And while their surprise attack succeeded, it was certainly a highly risky move. And then there's that bizarre religious take on things.
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